


saltwater

by Hermia



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mermaid, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-20
Updated: 2012-09-20
Packaged: 2017-11-14 16:42:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/517400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hermia/pseuds/Hermia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ten years ago, a little boy with fins and a tail saved another little boy's life. And for every summer after that, the other little boy visited that same beach. They became friends; they taught each other things -- how to swim better, how to speak. But even with both of them nearly grown, there is still so much left to learn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	saltwater

**Author's Note:**

> Jackson has the ability to speak through an empathetic link to Danny that formed after saving his life. The italicized lines are thoughts shared between the two of them.

Jackson never swam quite like he did when he sensed Danny in the water.  


It was summer again, a season that the merman had no use for before he saved a young boy from drowning ten years ago. But now the warmth and even the sudden increase of humans in the water were welcome to him; it meant he'd see Danny again.  


Every year, without fail, the boy would come with his family. He had learned over time, through his own natural empathetic link and the bits of pieces of language that his family was native to the land, just as Jackson was native to the sea surrounding the island (Danny had told him the name before but it frustrated his clumsy tongue).  


Jackson could feel it when he was in the ocean, no matter how far away he was, and it was always in the same spot – a secluded cove nearly a mile off the shore.  


The merman always helped Danny swim back.  


When he finally spotted the teenager wading, he speed off like a torpedo, not slowing down until he was a foot away, only to practically leap out of the water as he hugged him with a shout of his name, wrapping smoothly scaled arms around his neck, webbed fingers digging into the cool skin of Danny's shoulders. 

Danny caught him even as Jackson's momentum threw him back into the shallows, his fall 'cushioned' by the densely packed sand preciously beneath his feet. It was obvious by the smile on his face and the warm hum that radiated out from his very center that he was excited to finally be back there; the month they spent at the family home in Hawaii was his favorite time of any given year, ever since he was six.

His hands pressed against the soft scales that covered Jackson's lower back as he righted himself, choosing to sit rather than stand again. “Hey,” Danny said with a laugh as he gave the merman in his arms a squeeze.

He never spoke a word about Jackson. He did at first. He told all of his friends about the boy mermaid who saved him when he got caught between some rocks and coral, about how they could talk to each other through their minds, but no one believed him so he eventually stopped talking about him. Not even his best friend knew about him, though it felt odd keeping such a huge secret from her. Especially since he'd realized he was gay.

At least it would make for an interesting coming out story, he told himself. But that could wait.

_It's good to be back home,_ Danny said with another, softer laugh. _That was a good welcome._

“Hi,” Jackson managed, voice rough from sea water and lack of use. Every year that passed, he tried to speak more and more, eager to to be something Danny was more accustomed to.  


The boy had put in the effort to understand the link all mermaids did, intense emotions that forced their way into others. It was mostly a defense mechanism against those not of his kind. But Danny took to it easily, and Jackson was all too happy to let his mind say what his lips couldn't.  


Jackson flapped his tail, smacking the surface of the water and wet sand. “You are late,” he said slowly, tilting his head to the side. The chill of fear rushed through him. “I thought you...” Brows furrowing, he shook his head. _I thought you weren't coming. I missed you._

_Of course I came._ Danny's face brightened further, his cheeks dimpling and his eyes almost glittering in the sun. _This is my favorite part of the year._

The sincerity Danny brought with every thought was astounding. He would never lie to Jackson; he'd never deceive the boy who'd saved his life and taught him so many things about himself. Even if that hadn't been entirely on purpose. Still, he couldn't be anything but honest with him, and that much shone through with every word passed between them. _I miss you all the time._

Jackson smiled. The warmth that came from Danny's feelings and thoughts made the skin around his blue eyes crinkle. Had either of them been more worldly, it probably would have been obvious that Jackson was in love, if not from the way he looked at the boy still under him, certainly the gentle, pulsing sensation that peaked through everything the merman did.  


Stretching, Jackson made a contented noise, wriggling down until his cheek was on Danny's chest. They both had grown a lot over the past year, more muscles, Jackson's tail and fins had reached their adult length, and Danny had shot up another inch. But none of that mattered to the merman. They had been laying like this together since they were boys.  


Danny's skin was warm, and laying on him was the equivalent of basking on a rock, but far more comfortable. If distracting. _  
_

_You're stronger,_ Jackson noted, wet fingers tracing a pectoral muscle, absently brushing over a nipple, oblivious to the connotations. His tail curled around the soles of Danny's feet. _Why? Are you going to battle?_ Another sharp, icy pang of fear. _You **can't**. _

_I'm **not**_ , Danny promised with a small smile. _I'm on the lacrosse team, remember? I joined last year? I've been training and lifting weights and running, to get better._

Things were weird enough in Beacon Hills; he didn't need an all out war to go with that. 

Jackson's hair was soft and an even lighter shade of blonde than he remembered, the strands bleached from the sun, and Danny rubbed his cheek against them as he settled back to enjoy the tiny waves that made it to the shallows around the cove. _We're really good, too. I'm the goalie; I protect my... box... from the other team. If they get the ball into our goal, they score a point. I keep them from doing that. My coach says I'm the best goalie he's ever had on his team._

_We had games like that.  
_

Jackson's comment was too off-handed for any residual sadness to tinge the words. He was too busy tracing down toward what abdominal muscles weren't hidden by his own body laying on top of him. The spike of heat that shot through him wasn't unfamiliar, but far more intense than it had been in the past.  


The merman let out a heavy sigh. _It feels good to touch you. You're warmer. And... hotter? You used that word before, I think. Handsome._ The freckles on his cheeks pressed up against his eyes as he directed a smile at the boy under him, positioning himself so that his elbows were digging into the sand on either side of his head, hovering above Danny's face. _You must've found a mate._

Danny blushed at that, averting his eyes for a moment only to find Jackson's again, his cheeks nearly cleft in two from the depth of his dimples and the width of his smile. 

_No mate._ His hands found Jackson's waist again once he'd settled onto his back, head resting against the warm, wet sand. The merman's body was nothing to sneeze at, either. It was all lean muscle with a slender waist that he thought about _long_ after he left to go back home. _But... thanks. Glad you think so._

Jackson frowned, bringing a surprisingly soft hand to Danny's cheek, toying with a dimple with his thumb. _Why not?_ His expression was wrought with concern, brow creasing over his nose. _Have your men moved to another pod?_ It had surprised Danny the first time Jackson had assumed that he liked men, before he had even come to terms with it himself. Jackson was too intertwined with his mind to be fooled by denial.  


“Alone,” Jackson rasped, shaking his head as he patted Danny's shoulder. He was fearful again, but this was a different sort, leaving a chill more associated with emptiness and dread. “No.” 

“I'm _not_ alone,” Danny said, his smile softening until it was barely there. “Well, not all of the time.”

Danny knew that wasn't enough of an explanation. Surely Jackson understood; they were too connected and far too wrapped up in each other not to know. Right?

His hand slid around to the curve of Jackson's back again.

_I already have someone I want as my... mate?_

Jackson pressed his lips together and shook his head. He could feel what Danny meant. It made him flush with happiness briefly, despite the reply that snatched the feeling away.  


_We can't._ The merman seemed to wilt under the incredible sadness that overtook him, tail curling around tighter; even the fins along his arms and lower back drooped. _You know that._

Danny couldn't keep the frown off of his lips, though he was able to push it away when he saw the look on Jackson's face. _Why not? We see each other every year. Not for very long, but I could probably convince my parents to let me stay down here on winter holidays, too, now that I'm older._

He stared up at him, a light of defiance flickering somewhere in dark, deep brown.

_Why can't we?_

Jackson gave him a look that didn't need a telepathic link to clearly say _are you stupid_ and flapped his tail against the wet sand. 

At the look, Danny rolled his eyes.

Pulling himself up from the sand and guiding Jackson up with him, he let his eyes close as he leaned in. In and in and in until his mouth was against Jackson's, parted just enough to focus a kiss on his upper lip. He lingered there for a while, breathing in a sharp breath through his nose before leaning away.

“We don't need _all_ of the same parts to be together,” Danny murmured. “So don't look at me like I don't know what I”m talking about. _That_ was a kiss.”

The merman blinked dumbly, staring out into nothing as he ran his fingertips over his lip.  


“A kiss,” he repeated through his hand, a soft, curious lilt to his voice. Dropping his hand to Danny's chest, Jackson looked him in the eye. “Feels... felt...” His brow furrowed as he tried to find the words, trying to remember a decade of inconsistent, scattered lessons.  


“Warm,” was what he settled with, lifting himself up in order to brush his hand over his stomach. “Here. When I see you. Feel you in the ocean.” Jackson's jaw tensed, eyes widening in distress. _I want you with me always. I'm... frightened to become more attached._

_It's almost time for me to pick somewhere to study. My father's a UH alum – the school here on the islands, the University of Hawaii. I could... come here._

Danny swallowed hard. He could feel how scared Jackson was, every bit of him picking up a watered down rush of the emotion. He couldn't read feelings as well as Jackson could read his, but he was getting better at it. And he didn't need to concentrate to feel Jackson's.

Lifting himself up a little more, both of his arms closed around Jackson's waist as his face pressed into his cheek. “I... I really like you. Love – _love_ you, actually. I know I do. Every other month is so hard to get through because I'm not here.”

  
His fingers curled inward, rubbing against the soft scales on Jackson's back. _Not here with_ _ **you**_.

Jackson's body folded and shifted easily, his upper body strength making it a relatively simple task to bring his tail around so he was sitting sideways on Danny's lap, fin digging under the hot top layer of sand to find the cool moisture underneath.  


“Love you,” he said with a confident nod, bringing his face in closer. “How long?” _How long until you can come here? How long could you stay out here with me?_ Jackson paused, brows twitching. _Can you be happy like this? That's what I care about._

_I can. I know I can. I'm always happy when I'm with you._

Danny rested his forehead against Jackson's temple. “Two years. Just two. And I'll be able to visit like I usually do, maybe more often.” He licked his lips, tilted his chin up, and pressed another kiss against his skin, this time on the curve of his jaw. _I could stay out here for as long as you want me to whenever I do come. I can stay in the house. Come swimming with you every day._

Jackson returned the kiss, lips clumsy against Danny's jaw.  


_You can't stay as long as I want you to._ When he felt his eyes begin to burn, the merman leaned in and pressed his face to the crook of Danny's neck. _You never can._

Danny's hand smoothed down his back. Never up and down, only down against his scales. He'd be lying if he said hadn't constructed some elaborate idea of what he wanted out of life and shaped it around the boy that saved his life all those years ago. But it felt right. He wanted this.

_I can whenever I'm old enough. I'll live right on the beach. I could even sleep out here sometimes with you._

That made Jackson lift his head, wet blue eyes staring into the near-blackness of Danny's gaze.  


“Please,” he whispered after a long silence, voice high-pitched and pleading, fingertips digging into the planes of the boy's back. “I want that. I want it.”

Danny pressed his lips together for a moment before they spread in a smile. He nodded. Not just once, but many times. “I want it, too,” he told him. “I've been wanting it for a really long time. Years, maybe. I only figured it out recently, though.”

He paused, staring into Jackson's eyes for a while before murmuring a quiet, “You should kiss me. Now's a good time.”

Jackson leaned forward, sucking on his bottom lip until he was an inch away, releasing it just before kissing him. Or rather, pressing his lips to Danny's, unmoving, eyes wide open.  


When the teenager started to chuckle, Jackson pulled back as if burned, huffing indignantly. _Stop laughing_. The merman was blushing, an uneasy swirl of embarrassment spilling over from his mind. _I don't know how to do it._

Danny bit down on his bottom lip, though his shoulders were still shaking.

_You have to close your eyes. Like this._ Danny closed his eyes, his teeth letting go of his lip and allowing them both to part. _And when you kiss, you push them together, but not too much. Like..._ Leaning in again, Danny found Jackson's mouth without much trouble, pressing a soft kiss to his upper lip before pulling back. _There are different kisses, though. Harder, wetter ones. And sometimes, when you really want someone, you use your tongue. It's... probably weird to you, but it's how we do it._

He paused, eyes opening to look into Jackson's face, finding it only inches away from his. “I've wanted to kiss you for a really long time. Before I got here, it was all I even thought about.”

It took very little for Jackson's hooded eyes to fall shut completely. He moved forward, closer and closer until their lips met again, sighing when he felt Danny respond with arms tightening around him rather than laughter.  


They stayed like that for a short time, working their lips very little, enough to teach Jackson how to tilt his head to avoid mashing noses. When he finally pulled away, he smiled, freckles dancing on his nose before he began dragging himself toward the ocean with as much grace as he could manage.  


“Follow.” That was one of the first words he learned to speak. Once he was in the water, he swam out, diving under briefly to wet his dry skin down, popping back up and smiling brightly. “My turn to show.” 

Danny climbed up onto his feet with a grin to match. He waded out into the water it was deep enough for him to swim, and then he followed. Years spent swimming with his finned friend taught him how to keep up. Even though it'd been months since his last swim with Jackson, his body remembered.

He slipped beneath the surface and swam over to him, only coming up for a gasp of air when he was close enough to reach out and touch him. 

Jackson wrapped powerful arms around the human's waist. _Stop treading._ His presence was calming, soothing. Even the water seemed to still around them. _Trust me to keep you alive._  


When Danny's body went limp, the merman held him all the tighter, keeping him up just as high as he had been while keeping himself a float. _Take a deep breath._  


They were under the moment his lungs were full.  


Jackson sped them downward in the few seconds he had. He wished he could go deeper, but there wouldn't be time. It was under the water, far it its cold reaches, that his telepathy worked the best. It was there his people comforted the drowning with peaceful images, having long since given up the thought of rescue.  


One day he'd take Danny further down, gift him with the breath of the merfolk, but today he just had one goal: to let Danny feel thoughts and feelings as clearly as he could.  


Pressing their foreheads together, Jackson thought of the day they met. He focused on the three years of crushing solitude he had known, on blood and gore and the loss of his entire family. He let Danny feel the awakening of his heart when the young boy spluttering for breath gave him a hug.  


There was so much in just a few short seconds. The loneliness between the years, and how each time he came back, Jackson was a little more whole. His love was a pure emotion, one that made him smile, made his tail tingle.  


It hadn't been more than thirty seconds before Jackson was racing to the surface, not wanting Danny to be in pain. The merman loosened his hold on the boy, giving him room to react naturally to breaking to the surface, but he stayed close, webbed hand caressing the small of his back, watching him with curious eyes. 

Danny's own hands were at his face only a moment later, the heels of his palms digging into his eyes as his feet kicked only enough to keep him afloat. His lungs welcomed the air, but with every breath brought more of the burning behind his eyes. When his hands fell away, back into the water, he looked at Jackson, and his eyes were red.

Closing the gap between them, Danny slid his arms around Jackson's neck and pulled him into a tight hug. _I'm sorry._ His throat burned, same as his eyes; it was too tight to speak, so he thought and was thankful for the connection. _For leaving you so much. I wish I could have stayed here every time, but I'll be able to really soon._

Jackson began guiding them back to the sand with a slow movement of his tail, keeping his arms wrapped around Danny. _I didn't want to make you sad. I wanted you to know what you've meant to me. Mean to me._

“You didn't—” Danny's voice was thick, forcing him to clear his throat before he could finish. _You didn't make me sad. You made me happy._

He gave Jackson's damp cheek a nuzzle of his nose. _That's why I hate leaving._

Jackson hefting Danny onto the shore with only a small strained noise, leaving them laying fully in wet sand, legs and tail in the ocean and the tide lapping nearly up to their ears at its peak.  


The merman moved so he was resting on top of him as he had been what felt like hours ago, this time positioned so his lower stomach was tucked between Danny's legs, chin resting comfortably in the middle of his chest. _I wish I could go with you._ The corners of his mouth turned down sharply. _I want to be human for you. I want to be able to give you everything you want._

“Yeah...” Danny let go of a sigh, his fingers sliding into Jackson's hair to rub through the strands. _I know what you mean. I wish I could breathe underwater so I could see everything you do. So I can feel all of that again. And... I love you the way you are, but sometimes I wish I could... bring you out on a date and go to the movies. Introduce you to my parents. You could go to one of my lacrosse games._

Sniffing, Danny cleared his throat again. His free hand slid down to tilt up Jackson's chin. _But this is okay. This is who we are, right? It doesn't make me like you any less._

_Legs seem inconvenient. J_ ackson smiled, running a hand along Danny's thigh. _But yours are nice. I want to stay here between them._ He sighed heavily, kissing the damp skin of his upper stomach.  


“Can't stay,” he muttered weakly, frowning again, returning his chin to its spot on the human's chest. “Going back to your family soon.”

Danny couldn't hold back the whine that originated in his throat, no matter how young it made him feel. _Do I have to?_ He knew he did. He knew he'd go back and have dinner and say he had a good swim. Not an amazing swim. Not that he told Jackson that he loved him. Not that his plans were all but cemented, as long as UH accepted him. All he could say right now was _good_.

“I wanna stay,” he murmured, pulling himself up and closer to Jackson. “I'll be back tomorrow. Maybe... maybe in a few days, I can say I made a friend.” _Maybe I can stay out here during the night. With you._

_You'll get cold._ The look Jackson directed up at Danny had to be one of the most piteous things in the history of the world, all big blue eyes and thick, slanted eyebrows. _I need to stay in the water. Like how we are now._

Danny shook his head. _It's warm out here; it'll be even warmer soon. I won't get too cold. Not if I have you with me._ He leaned forward, bumping his forehead against Jackson's. _You'll keep me warm, right? It won't take much. You've just got to remind me that you're still here and tell me how much you love me._

The almost sickeningly sweet line made his cheeks ache at the width of his smile. _I just wanna stay out here with you. Just once before I come back for good._

“I'll keep you warm,” Jackson murmured just as he was pressing his lips to Danny's. The kiss was easier this time, still slow, tasting of the sea. He couldn't help but made a soft, sad noise when he pulled away.  


“I should get you back to the shore now.” The merman shifted onto his hands, beginning to slide back into the warm water. _Or else I won't let you leave at all._

Danny followed him into the water, his limbs heavier than before. They always were when it meant leaving the cove and leaving Jackson. But he dragged them closer, swam closer, only stopping when he caught up with Jackson, his arms sliding around his waist. He guided him nearer and nearer until their chests were pressed together and Danny's lips met the corner of Jackson's mouth.

“I don't want you to let me leave,” he said, his voice a whisper. “I missed you too much.”

Jackson leaned into him, eyes clamped shut to stem the sudden wave of tears. Now it was his throat that was too tight. _I wish I could go with you. I wish I could be a part of your life._  


Sniffling, the merman was already twisting around, working Danny's arms up until they were wrapped around his neck and started swimming toward the shore, a fair bit slower than his usual pace. _Talking about it just makes it hurt more._

As Jackson swam, Danny pressed his face against him, his nose nuzzling gently behind his ears. He could feel the flaps of gills there, and he tilted his head up so he could give them a kiss. One thing got better once spoken about, at least. He could be affectionate with Jackson now that he knew he felt the same way. That felt good, even if leaving him in the water made his heart ache.

“It's okay,” Danny said, a hand smoothing over Jackson's chest. “I'll come back tomorrow. And the day after that. Every single day for a month. I promise.”

There was a bloom of warmth, obvious even to Danny as the shore line got closer and closer.  


_I know_.  


_You always come home._


End file.
